Alicia McClain (3) passed 1,000 career points with Scotland on Friday night during the team’s win over Hoke County at Scotland High School. McClain led the team in scoring with 16 points.
Andrew Smolar | The Laurinburg Exchange
Dajuan Gibson (22) brings the ball up the court during Scotland’s matchup with the Bucks on Friday.
Andrew Smolar | The Laurinburg Exchange
The Scots played airtight defense on the Bucks during the entire game, holding them scoreless for two different stretches of at least three minutes. It was the fewest amount of points Scotland has given up in a game so far this season.
Andrew Smolar | The Laurinburg Exchange
LaSean Pittman (1) looks to make a play with the ball on offense while being defended by Machai Brown (11).
Andrew Smolar | The Laurinburg Exchange
Morgan Thompson (1) dribbles the ball in front of Samari Parker (2). Thompson had 14 points on Friday.
Andrew Smolar | The Laurinburg Exchange
LAURINBURG —The Lady Scots basketball team defeated Hoke County in their conference opener by a score of 51-31 on Friday night at Scotland High School. Scotland improves to 2-1 (1-0 against conference opponents) on the season with the victory while the Bucks fall to 1-6 (0-1 against SAC teams) with the loss. Head Coach Roshien McClain was happy to get a second consecutive win but also admitted that there’s room for improvement in various areas, including free throw shooting.
“It’s very important, we didn’t play our best at all but we got the win,” McClain said. “Just keep moving on and try to get better and better each game.”
The Scots started out the first quarter on a mission and set the tone for the rest of the game by scoring the first nine points unanswered and not allowing the Bucks to score at all until five minutes of game time had passed. By the end of the first eight minutes, Scotland was already in firm control 16-5. Senior Alicia McClain had five points in the first quarter to match Hoke County by herself. McClain emphasized the importance of working on defense consistently at practice and saw it pay off early in the game.
“We start with defense everyday in practice,” McClain said. “After we do our warmups we go straight into defense and work on it. We have the athletes and guards to run versatile lineups, which allows everyone to play more.”
The Scots started the second period a bit sluggish as Hoke County went on a 7-2 run over the first four minutes to cut the deficit to six (18-12). Scotland did quickly respond with seven unanswered points of their own to stretch the margin up to 13 (25-12). That would be part of a 10-1 Scots run to close out the half as they went into the break up 28-13.
Scotland came out of the break similar to how they started the game as they scored six unanswered points and didn’t allow the Bucks to get a single point until over three minutes had passed. Even though Hoke County went on a 5-0 run at one point later in the quarter, Scotland still won the period 11-8 and were up 39-21 after 24 minutes. McClain nearly matched Hoke County’s output by scoring seven points in the period alone.
After the Bucks got the first basket of the final quarter, the Scots immediately scored five points in a row, though Hoke County did the same shortly after. Once Scotland was ahead 45-31, they closed the game out with six unanswered points, including a made free throw by McClain that gave her 1,000 career points with the Scots. McClain was excited to hit the milestone but also wasn’t too focused on it as winning the game took priority for her.
“I wasn’t that worried about it, I just wanted to win the game,” McClain said. “I am happy that I hit the mark, it’s been a goal of mine for awhile. My next one is to get 1,000 rebounds which I am close to.”
McClain led the team in scoring with 16 points while Morgan Thompson added 14. Seven different Scotland players recorded at least four points on Friday.
The Scots will have the weekend off before hosting another conference rival in Southern Lee on Tuesday night. Tipoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. from Scotland High School. Heading into a week with four games on the schedule, McClain is simply focused on the team’s next opponent and trying to improve from game to game.
“The most important thing right now is to hone it in on certain things,” McClain said. “I’ll watch film on Monday and see the things we can improve on from this game.”
Boys basketball falls to Hoke County
The Scots dropped their conference opener to the Bucks on Friday night at Scotland High School by a score of 55-46. Scotland falls to 1-1 (0-1 against conference opponents) on the season with the loss while Hoke County improves to 4-3 (1-0 against SAC teams) with the victory. Head Coach Michael Malpass wasn’t thrilled with the offensive showing and thought there was quite a bit to improve on with that side of the ball.
“Offensively we were super stagnant, as far as the movement I was super disappointed because I felt like we put them in a position to do simple things so they could succeed,” Malpass said. “We tried to keep the game plan very simple and I felt like that would give them a chance to relax and attack off of movement. I felt like what we did was achievable but we just stood around and didn’t move their helpers enough.”
The Scots started the game slow as Hoke County got the game’s first four points within one minute of game time and trailed 8-2 by the four minute mark. Scotland then found the spark they needed, going on a quick 6-0 run that tied the game at eight. After trailing 13-10, Dajuan Gibson nailed a three-pointer to tie the game at 13 near the very end of the first quarter.
Scotland carried some of that momentum over into the start of the second frame, scoring the quarter’s first four points in 1.5 minutes. They also held a slight edge (19-17) halfway through the period but suddenly went cold until halftime as the Bucks scored six points in a row the rest of the way to lead 23-19 after 16 minutes of action.
The Scots scored first to start the second half thanks to basket from Gibson almost immediately. Other field goals from LaSean Pittman, Jerrison Dixon (three-pointer) and Tomek McFadden (who had six points in the quarter) allowed Scotland to even the score at 30 with 2:40 left in the third. A dunk as the buzzer went off by Teldryck Harley gave Hoke County a 36-34 edge heading into the final frame.
Scotland then let the game slip away from them in the fourth quarter. Joshua Miles got the Bucks on the board first with a made jump shot as they scored the period’s first five points. They would also add a separate 8-0 run shortly after to suddenly go up 49-36 with just under four minutes left in the game. The Scots did make a small run late that narrowed the gap to seven (53-46) but it would be too little too late as the Bucks cruised to victory.
Dixon paced the Scots in scoring with 14 points, seven of which came in the fourth quarter. McFadden added 10 in the loss.
Scotland will look to right the ship on Tuesday night when they welcome Southern Lee to Laurinburg. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. from Scotland High School. Moving ahead to Tuesday, Malpass is focused on finding a solution to the offense’s issues, which he said comes down to finding a way to move the defense around in order to create opportunities.
“Anytime you start digging in your bag of tricks you haven’t done yet, it’s not a good sign,” Malpass said. “Great offense is not about how cute and sweet you are, it’s if you can move people to create space so that everybody who has an athletic advantage can drive. You want the defense to chase you and that happens when you move people and you’re aggressive in how you do that.”